Chorus pioneers a trial for the fastest broadband on the planet

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Chorus has announced that 30 lucky households will trial a new super-fast broadband service from mid-March. This means participants in the trial will have the opportunity to access one of the fastest broadband services available on the planet

A 10Gbps service is 10 times faster than the fastest Ultrafast Broadband (UFB) connections available today, and 1000 times the bandwidth of a copper dial-up connection

Four broadband providers - Stuff Fibre, Trustpower, 2degree and Kordia - have signed up to Chorus’ trial service. The trial service will be available at homes in the Auckland suburbs of Birkenhead and Avondale, and Johnsonville in Wellington

Chorus' 10Gbps service is built in collaboration with Nokia using their XGS-PON fibre solution. That means 10Gbps in both directions – upload and download

The new service will be available through the new nationwide fibre broadband infrastructure, making it a natural evolution for those looking to upgrade to even faster plans.

The dramatic growth for great bandwidth has been relentless over recent years, with exponential growth in the average home. Most households now have multiple users streaming content, creative media services, advanced gaming, or working from home, all contributing to the need for greater capacity

The need for greater capacity will continue to increase. Many household now watch Netflix at 4K or ultra high definition quality, and content makers are expected to adopt 8k in the next couple of years

The demand for greater internet data bandwidth is relentless. Ultra-high definition video, creative media services, advanced gaming, increased home working and a dramatic proliferation of connected devices in our homes are all contributing to the need for greater capacity

Chorus Chief Customer Officer, Ed Hyde says "In the last eight years New Zealand has seen a meteoric progression in broadband capability. In 2011 the average broadband speed was just 10Mbps or so. When Chorus’ fibre plans first launched in 2012 the top speed then available was 100Mbps. We were then the first to make gigabit fibre broadband available in 2014 and today this is the fastest growing plan on our network with more than 44,000 customers.

“We're truly thrilled to be trialling our 10Gbps fibre service, a service we know will underpin New Zealand's digital future and continue our decade long commitment to innovation and keeping New Zealand’s broadband infrastructure at the cutting edge.